COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The ability to provide clear communication is vital to the business of FHWA and good writing skills are a key element in the communication process. FHWA uses program reviews as tools to fulfill its stewardship and oversight responsibilities, manage program risk, and identify process improvements for the Federal-aid program. Each year, FHWA conducts approximately 200 program reviews. The product of these reviews is usually a review that details the observations and recommendations of the review team in an effort to improve a process or product. The review's effectiveness is largely determined by how well the review is communicated to the target audience.

The goal of this course is to improve the writing skills of FHWA's employees. Improved writing skills should lead to higher quality review reviews, which in turn should increase FHWA's ability to motivate the reading audience to act upon the review's recommendations. Action on the part of the reader will ultimately lead to improved effectiveness in delivering FHWA programs by reducing costs, accelerating project delivery, and improving stewardship and oversight. Throughout this course, you will learn that effective writing is more than proper punctuation and using spell-check. It's learning how to write for your audience, the busy reader. You will also learn writing skills that will aid in motivating your readers to action.

OUTCOMES:

Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:

write an executive summary that informs the audience about potential problems and persuades them to act on your recommendations or solution;

write recommendations that motivate the audience to take corrective action;

discuss usefulness and readability;

describe how review content is generated by questions;

develop and answer review objectives;

evaluate the logical link of review objectives, observations, and recommendations;

focus on the relevant elements of an observation finding to create convincing support;

use the deductive message-first structure throughout reviews;

design/organize reviews to benefit the busy reader;

control paragraph unity (one main topic) and coherence (flow);

avoid information overload within sentences;

control common sentence problems; and

develop objective criteria for writing and reviewing reviews.

TARGET AUDIENCE:

This course is primarily intended for FHWA personnel who are responsible for writing program reviews. It is anticipated that participants may not have in-depth writing background. More knowledgeable persons may be expected to attend and will add to the overall effectiveness of the training through their active participation.